Exalted: The Awakening Chargen
Character generation in the modern age mostly follows the Errata'd rules for Solar character generation, but there are some key differences. Please refer primarily to this page when constructing your character. Step 1: Concept I'm reasonably sure those of you reading this have a handle on this. Who was your character before they exalted; already someone in a high-risk field that Exalted when the shit hit the fan at the same time the magic came back, or some random, normal schlub who found the courage to rise a wholly unexpected challenge in a spectacular way, and as a result was Chosen by the Unconquered Sun? Specifically, you need to answer some basics, if only to yourself. *Where was your character born, and to whom? *What was their childhood like? **Likewise their adolescence and the other times between birth and Exaltation. *What do they look like? *Where were they on December 1st, 2010, and what happened? This is the day of the Awakening, so this is when the shit hit the fan; when everything went down and your characters wound up taking their Second Breath. *What have they done in the intervening year? Did they try to pull a Bruce Wayne and hold a double life, did they get recruited by the government, did they use their powers for self-enrichment or civic good or to bust on criminals? Step 2: Attributes As per usual. Pick primary, secondary, and tertiary attribute categories out of the usual suspects of physical, social, and mental. Assign 8, 6, and 4 points to those categories as usual, remembering that all attributes start at a minimum of 1. Step 3: Abilities Owing to the higher standards of education in the modern world than in Creation, you get some freebies. (Yay, freebies!) Everybody gets Lore 1 and Bureaucracy 1 for free, as essentially everyone in our modern world (discounting people from extremely disadvantaged areas, which I presume your characters are not,) attends these little youth prisons called "schools," where such annoying things AS "literacy" and "education" are forced on them whether they want it or not, and in the process are exposed to that crushing reality that they are but a cog in an unimaginably vast machine, and they have to spin the right way if they want to get the machine to do what they want it to do. You also get three dots free to spread between your choice of Performance, Lore, Medicine, Athletics, Larceny, Bureaucracy, Linguistics, Drive, and Socialize, to represent the more advanced training you received as a youth and possibly as a young adult, whether you were learning the topics The Man wanted you to learn of, developing your own hidden talents for social networking or putting on a show, or sticking it to The Man and ripping people off. Other than your freebie abilities, you get your usual 28 ability points to assign, bearing in mind that 5 of them must go into raising your Favored abilities to one each, and another 5 must go into some combination of your Favored and Caste abilities. The remaining 18 may be distributed as you see fit into any and all Abilities, to a maximum of 5, without limitation. Additionally, you get four free Specialties to distribute in any combination you see fit, to any abilities you wish. Step 4: Advantages Backgrounds As usual, select your backgrounds - please read the page on Modern Backgrounds to get an idea of how backgrounds are similar and how they are different on Earth. You receive seven background dots to spend as you see fit, in addition to any Bonus Points you may wish to allocate. Possessions Your backgrounds determine what your character owns. You start the game essentially with one precisely average sum of your Resources background(s) in dollars (USD) to spend on any miscellaneous, sundry, or serious equipment you see fit, in addition to any lodgings or other properties which your backgrounds would likely establish you to have. If you really want to, you may start the game in financial debt, assuming you're still maintaining a pretense of living a normal life and making payments and such. Charms You receive ten Charms for free at the beginning of the game. You may pick any Charms for which you qualify, without restriction. Sorcery is off-limits at character generation, as essentially rediscovering it in a vacuum is an important character goal in and of itself. The Supernatural Martial Arts are fair game, however. Additional Charms cost 4 bonus points each if they're not from your Caste or Favored abilities; 3 each if they are. Virtues Your Virtues start at 1, as usual, and you receive five dots to distribute in the Virtues as you see fit. Pick your primary Virtue as usual. Virtues have no bearing on Willpower, and may be raised for one bonus point each. Willpower No longer a trait derived from Virtues, Willpower begins at a flat rating of 5, and may be raised with 1 bonus point each, to a maximum of 10, without restriction. Bonus Points You receive 18 bonus points to spend, in the usual manner, with costs above overriding costs printed in the core rulebook. Finishing Touches As usual, figure your Essence score, Essence pool, Intimacies, Health Levels, and so forth. Intimacies Characters begin the game with (Willpower + Compassion) Intimacies they need not spend bonus points for. Step 6: The Year of Goodness Because your characters have not Exalted just prior to game start but have, in fact, been Exalted for a year, they get 30 XP to play with. Category:Exalted: The Awakening Category:House Rules